BHUBANESWAR: A new Bill drafted by the Odisha government to regulate private coaching centres and hostels in the state proposes mandatory registration certificates for operation of such facilities. It also says the centres cannot make false promise of ranks to the students.
With privately-run coaching centres mushrooming across the state, the Higher Education department has drafted the Odisha Coaching Centres and Private Hostels (Regulation and Control) Bill, 2025 which was released recently.
It mandates that all new and old coaching centres (with or without hostel facilities) have to be registered under the Act and not make any misleading promises, or guarantee ranks or good marks to students for enrolling in them.
Also, every coaching centre will have to open a website that provides information to students on qualifications of tutors, courses offered, fees to be charged, exit and fee refund policy. Most importantly, the website must contain the exact number of students who undertook coaching and succeeded in getting admission in higher educational institutions.
As per the draft bill, any person seeking to establish or run coaching institutes would be required to apply before the district collector along with a registration fee of Rs 5,000.
It prohibits the coaching centres from engaging teachers of any government or aided college or university. Trained, non-government teachers or those who have retired with at least graduation as their qualification can be hired by the centres.
Since infrastructure is the biggest concern in private coaching centres and hostels, the Bill has mandated that the coaching centre should have a minimum of one square metre ( sq mtr) area on an average for each student, and hostels should have a minimum of two sq mtr area per student in dormitories.
Both the coaching centres and hostels should have fire safety certificates from the Fire services directorate and install fire safety equipment and CCTVs on the premises.
A senior officer of the department said any violation of the proposed Act will invite penalties. In case of first violation, a centre will have to pay a fine of `25,000, `1 lakh in the second instance and if found guilty for the third time, its registration would be cancelled. There is also provision for refund of fees in case a student decides to quit after finding the coaching of low quality.
This is the second time the state government has proposed an Act to regulate coaching centres. In 2017, the government had proposed the Odisha Coaching Institutes (Control and Regulation) Act but it was never implemented. The proposed Act is along the lines of ‘2024 Guidelines for Registration and Regulation of Coaching Centers’ which was rolled out by the Ministry of Education.
Educationists and parents have welcomed the move. “The coaching market is extremely commercialised. Since there is no law to govern, many of the coaching centres charge exorbitantly but compromise on the quality. They are not bound by the promises they make in their brochures. Hopefully if the Act is implemented, it will regulate the situation to a large extent,” said educationist Prafulla Mohanty.
Interestingly, the department has no data on the number of unregulated private coaching centres in the state. The department has invited suggestions from the public on the draft bill of the 2025 Act by February 15.
PROPOSED NORMS
Registration mandatory
No misleading ads on guarantee of good marks/ranks
Publicise faculty qualifications, refund policy
DEOs to accept complaints against centres